Daniel Ballard’s header gave Michael O’Neill’s team the lead in just the second minute of play, but their hosts were clearly superior throughout, especially in the first half when they scored four goals.
In a night when 16-year-old Lamine Yamal of Barcelona once again showed promise, Spain would tie the score in just ten minutes thanks to Pedri.
Spain led 4-1 at the half thanks to goals from Fabián Ruiz, Pedri, and Alvaro Morata. Mikel Oyarzabal, a substitute, added the sole goal in the second half.
The team led by Luis de la Fuente will now focus only on Euro 2024, starting their campaign on June 15 against Croatia.
Caolan Boyd-Munce, a midfielder for St Mirren, would be playing for his first time internationally, and it was his pass that reached Ballard’s head for Northern Ireland’s first goal.
The Sunderland defender rose in the area to meet the kick and arched his header over Unai Simon with just 69 seconds remaining. The Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper got a hand to the ball, but was unable to stop it from going into his net.
The lead held by Northern Ireland would only hold for ten minutes as the Spanish team, as predicted, dominated possession of the ball.
In their recent better form, O’Neill’s team has made the most of little ball, particularly against Scotland last time out, but in this instance, there was just no way to release the pressure.
Spain would frequently push their full-backs so far forward that it appeared as though they were playing with just Nacho and Robin le Normand at the back because of how rapidly they would recover the ball high up the field.
That would cause Northern Ireland a great deal of issues down the flanks, and although Spain equalized through a long-range shot into the corner after Rodri was given too much room in midfield, their greatest threat came from wide deliveries.
They took a 2-1 lead on 19 minutes thanks to a wonderful cross from the right by Jesus Navas, which Morata nodded in by the post. Ten minutes later, Nico Williams, who was very dangerous, doubled their lead by racing away down the other wing and pulling back for Pedri.
After a five-minute wait, Yamal contorted and skilfully placed a ball into the Northern Ireland box, where Ruiz finished it off.
Even though Spain was in total control, Northern Ireland had a chance to draw even before half-time, but Simon was only able to block Shea Charles’ shot from the edge of the box, and when Jamie Reid prodded the rebound back to him, Isaac Price scored spectacularly.
The game lost steam after a string of substitutions, and Spain wouldn’t extend their lead in the second half until after the hour.
Yamal caught Price in possession, though, and Northern Ireland felt they should have been given a free-kick before the ball into the net.
The referees deemed the challenge to be in order, and Yamal’s retreat allowed substitute Oyarzabal to score his second goal of the game, a tap-in at the front post, to add to his earlier-week hat-trick against Andorra.
It was maybe expected that Spain’s first-half zeal would be lacking in the second half, with Bailey Peacock-Farrell finding himself with less to do as the game progressed and their Euro 2024 opening drawing near.
In fact, Price had another opportunity to score, this time set up by Dale Taylor, but Simon denied the Standard Liege player. It was Northern Ireland who may have scored next.
Later on, Joselu got the final genuine opportunity of the match, but he was unable to connect properly on another dangerous set-piece, and Ballard wasted it by firing over the bar from 10 yards out.
The players from Northern Ireland will have another chance to round up their own season with a victory when they take against Andorra in Murcia on Tuesday night, while Spain is one of the favourites going into the Euros.
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